Review: AGRESTE (DRYLANDS) at Spooky Action

Out in an arid, underpopulated northeastern Brazil, an unusual but not entirely inconceivable love story plays out, presented as a kind of morality lesson or at least a cautionary tale. 

“Agreste (Drylands),” from Brazilian playwright Newton Moreno, is literally told at Spooky Action Theatre  — its ensemble cast of four alternates lines in telling, but not always showing, the narrative. In the new translation by Danilo Gambini, who also directed the work he had previously directed at Yale Cabaret, the text alternatively exudes occasional poetry or clunkier metaphors.

It’s said to be based on a true story, though it’s tough to find details anywhere of what that might have been or when it occurred. 

Essentially it involves two painfully shy neighbors on the vast plains who first notice, then leave trinkets for one another anonymously at the fence between them. When a hole appears in the fence — illustrated by a pinpoint overhead light that widens on the striking geometric set — they meet, touch and run away together.

They live as husband and wife for 22 years until his death, when responders from the clergy find he was not a man at all but a woman — something the wife never knew. Not only does this prevent a proper blessing or burial, it sparks an even more harrowing reaction from townspeople (It’s all pretty much spelled out in the theater’s “Content warning: bigotry, transphobia, arson”).

Gambini, the Brazilian-born associate artistic director at nearby Studio Theatre, is a fan of Greek tragedies, and he stages this one as if it’s a cast of Greek chorus flitting across and reassembling on the stage, with each taking up a narrator’s role or becoming one of the characters as needed. Danielle Preston’s earth-toned, robe-like costumes help bolster this tradition of ancient tragedy. 

The cast (Raghad Almakhlouf, Irene Hamilton, Kate Kenworthy and Miss Kitty) is able and energetic. Some of them are also enlisted to serve cachaça before the show (at least on opening night). 

Giorgos Tsappas’ set design, sprawling like a minimalist work by Carl Andre, is one of the more interesting aspects of the production — although, set in the middle of the performance space in the basement of the Universalist National Memorial Church, it requires half the audience to walk around it to get to their seats. 

A tan square platform at its center is meant to portray the sand of the drylands; on one side is an incline, on the other, steps. Between them and the platform are blocked-in areas of stones (though, from the noise they made when scattered, seemed to be made of rubber).

Colin T. Bills lighting design is particularly effective on this modernist canvas, augmented by Aria Velz’ subtle sound design. 

While its central tragedy is compelling, an attempt to lighten the mood with a sophomoric litany of euphemisms for penis by the authorities, seems a jarring change of tone and ultimately isn’t very funny either.

The play’s conclusion comes quickly and puts everything to an end barely an hour into a production that has already been padded a bit by incongruous songs, very slowly crooned  by Miss Kitty: the Nat King Cole song “Nature Boy” and Edith Piaf’s  “If You Love Me, Really Love Me.” 

The rather undernourished night of theater could have been bolstered by perhaps being paired with another short, simpatico piece. 

“Agreste (Drylands)” is the inaugural show of the first season of Spooky Action’s new artistic director Elizabeth Dinkova, a former classmate with Gambini at Yale Drama. As the first immigrant woman to run the theater, Dinkova has dedicated the year to stories that are “Beyond Borders,” of which Moreno’s work certainly fits. 

One thing to note about the production, which may reflect a seasonal uptick in COVID cases:  mask requirements are back. “Because we are performing in an intimate space, we are recommending you wear a mask in the venue for the performance for the safety of the artists and your fellow audience members,” the theater requests.  

Running time: About 60 minutes, no intermission.

Photo credit: Irene Hamilton, Kate Kenworthy, and Raghad Almakhlouf in ‘Agreste (Drylands).’ Photo by Ryan Maxwell Photography. 

“Agreste (Drylands)” continues through Nov. 9 at Spooky Action Theater, operating at the Universalist National Memorial Church, 1810 16th St NW. Not wheelchair accessable. Tickets available online.

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